Progress information regarding AGLS v1.6 on Unreal Engine 5.6
Hi 🙂.
I’m still actively working on newer versions of AGLS, even though the project has already reached a massive scale and level of complexity. That said, I still plan to “complicate” other mechanics and systems.
Currently, I’ve taken on the task of significantly rebuilding the AI controller for Human Enemies. In essence, what I’m aiming for would mean building it from scratch. The goal is to create a controller that could — at least to some extent — match the quality of AI developed in large Game Dev studio projects.
Implementing such a system would require a lot of time. At this stage, I only have a basic layout of the system, so I can’t yet say what exactly the new AI controller will be capable of. It’s possible that some behaviors will turn out to be too complex to implement and I might decide to drop them.
Still, I believe this change in AI is a good move — mainly because the current controller was originally created back in Unreal Engine 4.26.
I’ve also been considering designing the AI using StateTree instead of Behavior Tree. StateTree is a newer tool that works a bit differently compared to BT and is more performance-efficient. However, I’ll most likely stay with Behavior Tree, mainly because I’m much more familiar with it and it also makes it easier to manage tree logic across multiple assets.
EDIT: However, I decided to use StateTree. After exploring this tool for a while, I concluded that it offers the necessary features for AI development. In ST logic i can declarate delegates (like TickEvent with custom interval), which can replace the behavior of ServicesBT. I haven't found a way to change the global ST variables from outside the StateTree system. However, this isn't a major problem, as the AI ​​can still use Blackboard without the BehaviorTree logic.
In the meantime, I’ve also improved the attack behavior of zombie instances and added a new mechanic I’d describe as "Paired Attack Sequences". This adds interactive 'cutscenes' that the player can enter as the zombie attacks. The actual result is shown in the video.
Comments (9)
Great work Jakub! Could you take a look at the new gameplay camera management system? Ive tried disabling the old system, and using the new one, but something is going wrong. Camera isnt aligned properly when character pawn is placed in level. For someone of your talents, im sure it would only take a day or two at most to figure it out. Thanks again dude!
Hi. I’ve looked into this system and considered actually changing the camera-related mechanics. However, GameplayCameras isn’t that straightforward, and AGLS has a lot of systems that are related to the camera. For now, I’ve decided to focus on learning AI-related mechanics instead — such as State Tree, Smart Objects, Contextual Animations, and modifying EQS. So at the moment, implementing GameplayCamera has been pushed further down the priority list.
Thank you yes the human ai is a great focus, if you can also check if the human ai will aim low correctly at the crawling zombies and that the human and companion ai have logical behaviour when their weapon clip gets empty. Another thing: the rope swinging is too slow how can we speed it up?
it could be nice to use GASP sk instead of ue4 sk
True, but changing the skeleton with so many animations is a huge amount of work.
Wish you’d had gone with state trees. That is the future.
I'm still considering using State Tree. In the earlier post, I stated that I would stick with Behavior Tree, but after spending more time testing State Tree, I’ve started to notice more advantages. A great new feature in UE5.6 is the ability to declare custom Delegates within the State Tree. This makes it possible to create mechanisms similar to BT Decorators. While State Tree doesn’t have a direct equivalent of the Blackboard, I now believe that shouldn’t be a problem when developing AI. So in the end, I’ll most likely go with State Tree. Surprisingly, it took me just around 3 hours of testing to gain the necessary understanding. Of course, not everything I implement will be done in the most optimal way - mainly because State Tree is still quite a complex tool. Hard decision 🤔
Would be cool to see a tut on migrating the AI to other projects like the zombies for example. :-)
Can we also get female animations on the main character